


Rebuilding Dundrasil and Building New Relationships

by ATiredCat



Series: In the Shadow of Time: Rebuilding Dundrasil [1]
Category: Dragon Quest XI
Genre: Coitus Interruptus, I'm going to die mad that we didn't get to rebuild dundrasil, Luminerik, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Post-Game(s), Veronica is tall, but i also love gemma, hero's name is Alta, spoilers full game
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:09:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25701880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ATiredCat/pseuds/ATiredCat
Summary: Sylv and Hendrik think they get to spend a little extra time together the morning before the party from Cobblestone arrives. However, the Luminary has other plans.
Relationships: Camus | Erik/Hero | Luminary (Dragon Quest XI), Emma | Gemma/Hero | Luminary (Dragon Quest XI), Graig | Hendrik/Sylvia | Sylvando (Dragon Quest XI)
Series: In the Shadow of Time: Rebuilding Dundrasil [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1863997
Kudos: 5





	Rebuilding Dundrasil and Building New Relationships

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sylv and Hendrik think they get to spend a little extra time together the morning before the party from Cobblestone arrives. However, the Luminary has other plans.

The kingdoms of Dundrasil and Zwaardrust would be rebuilt, and Hendrik would be a part of it. The thought kept him awake yet another night, even after Sylv had exhausted his body. He glances over at the other knight—sleeping like a rock, like a ghost, like Hendrik’s memories of Zwaardrust. Morning light brightens the canvas of their shared tent, making everything gilded and turning the dust motes drifting through the air into stars. Hendrik never intended on coming back here. He’d never intended on helping the luminary. Never intended on saving the world. Never intended—no. 

Never hoped.

Hendrik doesn’t remember much of Zwaardrust, but the dust motes make him think of a barn where threshed wheat was stored. Memories jostle with the haze of bad sleep for space in his mind: climbing into a hay loft, listening to the lowing of cows and the bump and bumble of their movements in the crowded barn, his mother calling for him, hiding in the hay and being found when he sneezed. Hendrik reaches for his mother's face in this smattering of golden memories and it slips away, like the possibility of sleep with the rising of the sun. Hendrik had been a child when the monsters attacked, and he’d lost most of his good memories along with the bad to that night’s terror and the subsequent years of his life. He remembered the wheat fields though, golden as the sunlight peaking through the buttoned front of his and Sylv’s tent in their temporary Dundrasil field camp. He remembers the way the wind blew the green wheat in silvering ripples during the summer when it grew thick and verdant. He remembers the scent of the dry wheat, ready for threshing in the fall. There was a man, tall and strong, carrying him on his shoulders. There was his mother—

There was that night, a sudden storm. Screaming.

Hendrik sits up, forcing his mind to the present and Sylv and barely, barely thinking of Jasper.

Jasper, who he never said I love you to.

Sylv’s eyes flicker open with a hazy, long-lashed blink that banishes the last of Hendrik’s melancholy remembrances. “Darling, were you up all night again?”

“You need to work harder to wear me out,” Hendrik lies as he shifts across the thick, straw and heather-stuffed mattress, pinning Sylv down to kiss him.

Sylv shoves him off. “Alta would be so disappointed,” he says, in his perfect, sing-song voice. “If we didn’t show up to haul stone today.”

“No, the Cobblestone refugees are arriving today. We have time yet.”

“Oh, do we, now?” Sylv’s leg twists against Hendrik’s. He grabs Hendrik’s hand, twining their fingers together with the promise of romance—a lie. There’s another twist and the jester-knight is on top, pinning Hendrik down. He always had more agility—it was nowhere close, Hendrik thinks, as he gives himself up to Sylvando’s lips.

A shadow moves past the tent flap. There’s a rustle and a pause. “What are you two doing?”

Serena.

“What _aren’t_ those two doing?”

Veronica. 

Hendrick had thought she might get more polite with being back in her adult body, but she was still as… forthright as ever. Rude, he thinks, assuming Veronica’s wizardry doesn’t allow her to see into his mind. He’s never sure. 

Sylv laughs, kisses Hendrik once more, and leaves Hendrik laying there, wanting. “Darlings, we’re just getting dressed. We’ll be right out.”

“Does the Luminary require our presence in court?” Hendrik pulls a blanket over his lap, hiding his erection in case Serena and Veronica decide to barge in.

“If by court you mean the yard, then yes.” Veronica says.

They’ve cleared out rubble inside the city walls but outside of the castle itself, and erected a temporary camp of tents and wooden shanties there. Alta says the first thing to be repaired will be the town. The last thing will be the castle. Hendrik approves of this course—he always found Carnelian’s dismissal of downtown Heliodor disturbing, even knowing much of it was done while Carnelian was possessed. Even once freed of Mordegon’s influence, Carnelian hadn’t mentioned reforms or even seemed to acknowledge Helidor’s slums. He was all set to aid Cobblestone’s rebuilding—but that was a more direct destruction than the systematic decline and decay of downtown Heliodor.

And Cobblestone! Hendrik turns those thoughts away, not wanting to think on how close he came to letting Jasper murder the good citizens of the Luminary’s hometown. Carnelian atoned for that by losing the citizens of Cobblestone to New Dundrasil. It didn’t feel like enough, to Hendrik. But now, from a sea away, Hendrik could only hope Princess Jade would turn her father’s royal eye to to the changes needed closer to home.

“Well, you run along and tell him we will be right there.” Sylvando turns to Hendrik and winks.

There’s another rustle and a pause. Serena clears her throat. “I think—we think—he’s having some anxiety about Princess Gemma.”

“He thinks she is going to hate Dundrasil and resent moving,” Veronica adds, putting it plainly.

Sylvando puts a hand on his hip and rolls the other in the air. “At least he’s thinking of her feelings.”

Hendrik grunts. “Alta has asked much of Gemma.”

“We’ll be out to have a little chat with him shortly,” Sylv says.

“Right, then.” Veronica says.

There’s one last rustle and their shadows move away. Hendrik leans forward on the edge of the bed, clasping his hands together.

Sylv turns, sunlight catching on his olive skin and highlighting his lithe, muscular frame, crooked smile etched on his face. He takes two long steps back towards the bed, putting himself decisively back in Hendrik’s space. Hendrik’s legs are parted by Sylv, leaving him vulnerable. He can’t rise quickly from this position. At least—not to his feet.

“Oh, Darling.”

Hendrik runs a hand up Sylv’s thigh. It comes to rest naturally on the other man’s hip. No—Hendrik couldn’t leap to his feat with his legs wide like this. Yes, it leaves him unprotected. But. He can knock Sylv down. His hand slips around to grip Sylv’s butt. And then he pulls and twists his entire body

Slyv laughs as he’s dragged down onto their pallet and into a tussle. His lips are still in a smile as Hendrik find them, kissing frantically, pulling off Sylv’s clothes, hoping to finish this before the next, inevitable interruption.

They don’t manage it.

There’s a rap on the side of the rent, sending the taut canvass wall shivering. Then Erik’s voice. “Alta’s gone.”

Sylv, now naked and straddling Hendrik, twists his face in mock agony, touching the back of his hand to his forehand, and rolls off.

Hendrik lays back in the pillow. He’s unable to pull his focus away from the lumpy mattress under him, the slight itch of his sweating skin, and the intermittent throb of his cock. His fingers brush his shaft, thinking of stroking one out before they go to hunt down the wayward luminary, surely off sulking somewhere, but Sylv, always more agile and better at compartmentalizing, has already pulled on his leggings. “You coming, love?”

_Not in the way I want_. Hendrik sighs and sits up, groping around for his tunic. He swore it was somewhere on the bed—he pulled it off last night, threw it somewhere.

Slyv tosses it to him with a wink. “I put it on the chair with mine,” He says as he pulls his own tunic on. This one is new, purple stripes on a cream backing, with a row of pompoms and netted lace around the low neckline.

“Thanks. And my pants?” Hendrik pulls his shirt on and starts looking around again.

“Now that I can’t help you with.”

The scent of baking bread and the sound of people calling out their good mornings greet them when Sylv and Hendrik finally dress and exit their tent. Erik’s standing their wringing his hands together, looking uncharacteristically a mess. A shiver runs down Hendrik’s spine, a sense of déjà vu, as if he’s seen Erik disarmed like this once before. Hendrik blinks away a memory of dark skies and wheat fields: unspecific points in time, maybe memories, maybe dreams. He pushes his sleeves up his forearms. It's hot in Dundrasil during the summer, even in the mornings. Dew glints along the grass around them, and dampens the stamped down walking paths of their camp. Above the sky is purple and gold, giving over to a clear, blue sky day. “You say Alta’s run off?”

A taut nod. “Serena told me he was upset and she didn’t know why, I went to check on him and he’s gone. I’m worried. He was—last night...” A flush rises across Erik’s cheeks.

Sylv arches an eyebrow. “Last night?”

“He said he loved me.” Erik’s raises one hand to his lips. “I kissed him.”

“That’s. Well, that’s—”

Sylv flustered? Indeed. The swagger has gone out of his posture and his hand just touches his chest. Not with a motion of certainty, or exaggerated shock, but with genuine confusion. Hendrik touches the small of Sylv’s back, feeling the shift and comfort of the jester-knight’s weight as he leans back into Hendrik’s arms.

“That wasn’t what I was expecting,” Sylv finally says, “But I’m not surprised. Who doesn’t love you?”

The flush on Erik’s cheeks deepens, if that’s possible.

Hendrik smiles. “It’s the blue hair.”

“Oh not you, too,” Erik says, regaining a bit of his swagger and snark. “I shouldn’t have kissed him, but damn—his eyes.”

“Oh, honey.” Sylv says it gently.

Hendrik takes a deep breath. “You must find Alta and speak plainly of these matters.

Erik’s eyes widen and all the gathered color in his cheeks drains out in one fell swoop. He stammers something unintelligible out, and jerks away from them. The thief’s instinct to run kicking in, cut off by Hendrik setting a heavy hand on Erik’s shoulder.

“Sylv and I will come, too. Trust me, Erik—holding feelings like these in only ends in worse grief. For all involved.” 

He thinks of Jasper, of course.

Sylv, as if sensing Hendrik’s thoughts, leans up and kisses his cheek. Then he turns to Erik and claps his hands together. “Si, Sir Hendrik is right.”

Erik steps back, flinching off the touch. “I just—what was he thinking? Why now? I hated it when he married Gemma. I hated every moment of it. I don’t—why did he say that to me. Why now… ”

“Because there is no opportune time for words like that.” Hendrik says. 

He doesn’t say that Jade tried to talk Alta out of marrying Gemma. At the very least, Jade had said, Alta should wait till after they saved the world. But there was so little safety then, with Calasmos looming. To defeat Mordegon only to see a new evil rise in his place—it broke Alta a little, and he was already clutching at the shards of who he had been. And Gemma, she was always waiting. Hendrik didn’t doubt that Alta loved Gemma, but he knew, like Jade knew, that Alta had changed and never had a chance to get to know Gemma as the Luminary and Prince of Dundrasil, not Alta her childhood friend. Gemma had surely changed, too, what with her imprisonment and the destruction of her home.

His jaw tightens. He’d caused that destruction.

Gemma and Alta knew who they’d been before, but they didn’t know each other now. They were held together by the stitching of their past. Hendrik took a surreptitious look at Erik. He was a handsome lad, and with more wit and charm to him than Alta; Gemma might like him. Maybe new thread would be needed to hold the pieces of the past together like a well made quilt. He wondered if Erik and Alta had even considered a triad or similar as a solution. Probably not. Erik seemed overwhelmed, and Alta was caught up in an identity that had been thrust on to him like a night in the dungeons.

“What if he’s gone?” Erik asks, voice hollow.

“Alta would never leave his kingdom or his duties. He’s seen through worse than this.” Hendrik is certain of that. Sometimes even the heroes of the world need space, though. Need a rest. Sylv’s hand slips around his wait and squeezes his ass. It’s Hendrik’s turn to flush. Hero or not, Alta has had enough alone time, and Hendrik has not. The corner of Hendrik’s mouth twitches in a smirk. He’s not going to be the only one interrupted this morning.

“What if he wants me to leave?”

Sylv sighs, more dramatically than usual. “Then I’ll slap him, but I have a hard time believing Alta would tell you he loves you and then kick you out.” 

Erik shifts from foot to foot and stares at the ground. “It might be the only way.”

Hendrik can guess at what thoughts of abandonment and struggle are going through the young man’s head. “It’s absolutely not the only way.”

“What do you mean?”

“Have you considered that a relationship can consist of more than two people?”

“If you’re trying to tell me I can still be friends with Alta, no shit. But that’s not what I want.”

Sylv sighs. “No, honey, Hendrik is trying to suggest that you and Alta and Gemma be partners all together. Look, you didn’t think I gave up on my Dave for Hendrik, did you? And you didn’t think Hendrik gave up his back-alley puff-puffs did you?”

“Hey!”

“Well, it’s true.”

Hendrik grunts. It is true. Rab even got him a subscription to Ogler’s Digest.

Sylv claps his hands together. “Enough of this prattle, darlings, let’s saddle the horses and go find Alta. This is a new kingdom, a new world, and now is the time for finding new ways of doing things.”

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My favorite part of any Dragon Quest game ever was rebuilding Dialac in Dragon Quest 7, so when I played 11 XI with all the potential of Dundrasil I got a little mad--then I got a little inspired XD I'm working on a longer series of pieces that will explore how the Luminary and co rebuild Dundrasil after their adventures. As far as the time period in the game goes, let's just assume they've knocked themselves out of time and space because of wild time dragons or some similar. This is the first time I've posted something on here, so please go easy on me if I mess up formatting or tags. It's all a little confusing!


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